Ochayee
is one of the first movies to get released
post Endhiran. Written and directed by
Asaithambi, Ochayee is produced by Dravia
Pandian. Endhiran, which was released
recently, has raised the bar for Tamil
cinema. We can now evaluate movies pre
and post Endhiran. To our disappointment,
Ochayee falls into the pre-

Endhiran
category.
Rajesh is the doting father of his young son, who
has lost his mother at a very young age. Thinking
about the kid's future, Rajesh decides to re-marry.
He marries a girl who is much younger to him and pays
the price for it later. Rajesh, who does masonic jobs,
is rejected by his second wife due to his lifestyle.
Though she disallows Rajesh's intimacy, she starts
having an affair with an outsider. This happens often
without Rajesh's notice. The stepmom also tortures
the young kid by not providing him food and making
him buy toddy for her lover. Rajesh eventually comes
to know about this from his friends. He also sees
his wife during an intimate scene with her lover and
kills both and goes to jail.

The son becomes an orphan and becomes the laughing
stock of the village. Dravia Pandian, a local dada
with a golden heart, adopts the son and helps him
study and grow. It so happens that, after a few years,
a constable tells about his wife's illicit affair
with the village 'Pannaiyar' to Daya (Rajesh's son).
Enraged by this, Daya kills the Pannaiyar, which makes
people turn against Daya. But with the help of Dravia
Pandian, Daya escapes and manages to love his relative
Ochayee (Thamarai). Things become worse when Santhana
Bharathi, the Pannaiyar's brother, renews the enmity
and is bent upon killing Daya. Everything boils down
to the climax when Daya and Thamarai try to escape
after getting married. The heroine gets killed in
a lorry accident and Daya is killed by a bullet. Whew!

Haven't you seen a movie like this before? This is
the same run-of-the-mill story that we have seen a
lot in the 80s and the early 90s. Even if we try to
see something new in this movie, the effort yields
no results. We keep wondering why we cannot think
of a better way to spend money.

No guesses but the screenplay, dialogues and direction
falls flat. It is so hard to point out scenes that
can be deemed for improvement. The music, editing
and camera too fall into the 'OK' categories. A lot
was said about the movie before the release but where
are the much hyped sequences?

It was told that Rajesh stayed in and around villages
surrounding Usilampatti for a month to learn about
the culture and the language. We never get to see
the effort. He has done a good job as instructed by
the director. So has Daya, the hero. He shines in
bits but gives a feeling that he has done justice
to the role offered. Thamarai as Ochayee has no scope
to perform. Producer Dravia Pandian scores in his
role as the local dada.

Overall,
Ochayee is the usual thorough-fare that we are used
to. A tried and tested formula, newcomers and the
usual 'village' backdrop make this a dull watch. We
can only wish that these kinds of movies do not have
an impact on Tamil cinema, as we have seen movies
with a lot of promise in recent times. To sum it up,
Ochayee is "Aracha maavaiyee thiruppi arachi
irukaanga".